WORLDWIDE: ASIAN MONEY MARKETS SET TO DOMINATE APEC SUMMIT

Описание: (19 Nov 1997) English/Nat

Turbulence in Asia's money markets is set to dominate this week's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Canada.

For the past five months, currencies in the Far East have been in free-fall and some analysts argue this could slow the push towards APEC's primary goal of trade liberalisation.

It is the first time Vancouver has played host to the APEC summit and the city's Trade and Convention Centre is the focus.

The elaborate security measures even stretch underwater in preparation for the arrival of the Heads of State later this week.

Although the official agenda has been drawn up, the leaders are expected to devote time to the problem that has rocked Asia in recent months - the currency crisis.

SOUNDBITE: English
"It will really depend on the leaders themselves. The format for these meetings is relaxed and informal. A number of leaders have said publicly they want to discuss this issue and I expect it will come up."
SUPER CAPTION: Len Edwards, APEC Senior Official, Canada

Even the financial powerhouse of Hong Kong was shaken by the turmoil and the stock market tumbled to its lowest level in a decade.

Now the Asian members of APEC will be looking to their partners at Vancouver for answers.

SOUNDBITE: English
"Certainly we will try to see whether they could continue to have confidence in economic growth in Asia Pacific in particular and whether they are going to identify the causes of this financial turmoil and as a result whether they could agree on some solution."
SUPER CAPTION Alan Lai, Director General of Trade, Hong Kong Government

Reducing tariffs on toys is Hong Kong's goal and the government has pledged to take a strong free-trade line at Vancouver, but there's not expected to be huge progress on this or other trade issues - the international currency crisis has seen to that.

Analysts say the fallout of the financial meltdown will hamper APEC's ultimate aim - free trade in the region by 2010.

SOUNDBITE: English
"You are going to have more economies on this side of the Pacific who are going to want to export more to the U-S to solve the problems they have. They will be more competitive because their prices are lower, but you will have a lot of people in the United States who are concerned about the surge in imports from Asia, about the threat that constitutes to local U-S companies and they will be active politically in Congress and in Senate to try and feed that concern into policy making."
SUPER CAPTION: David Dodwell, Jardine Fleming

Unlike last year's summit in the Philippines, President Clinton will be on the defensive at Vancouver.

He recently failed in Congress to win sweeping trade negotiating powers - his so-called 'fast-track' policy.

And he'll also have to explain why the United States hasn't helped bail out the ailing economies of South-East Asia.

SOUNDBITE:English
"The President is going to have questions both about U-S trade liberalisation and about U-S support on the financial side. He's going to have to reassure and convince his counterparts that the United States is not backing away from many of its own initiatives which lie at the root of APEC and without which APEC doesn't have much future."
SUPER CAPTION: Fred Bergsten, Institute for International Economics

There are some in Vancouver who wish just that.

Students at the University of British Columbia are camping out all week in protest at the style and focus of APEC.

They say it ignores human rights and social issues.



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